


Strange Beginnings

by c00kie



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fate, Las Vegas, Love at First Sight, Romance, accidentally married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 16:03:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4570719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ben Wyatt wakes up next to the strange and captivating Leslie Knope in his hotel room, wearing matching wedding bands, they agree they should get an annulment as soon as possible.  If only they could keep their hands off each other long enough to actually go. If only they weren't falling in love. If only fate didn't have other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the people who saw the snippet of this and told me they wanted to read it. I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> And as always, thank you to [ashisfriendly ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ashisfriendly), for being a gift of a human being and putting up with me while I was writing this and for making it better.

Panic sets in before Ben's even awake. The fuzzy memories of the night before growing clearer in his mind with every passing second of time. His eyes open as the sun hits his face, and carefully he lifts his left hand to view the ring on his finger that he's still hoping is an illusion. 

It's real. It's very, very real. "Shit."

"Hmmpf," a voice says next to him and he's afraid to turn around as the woman next to him flips over and pulls more of the covers off of him. 

The chill from the air conditioner hits his legs and he tries to pull the blanket back, but his bed mate makes another sound of protest and rolls over, pushing the blankets off her body. He's struck by the sight of her body, small and bare, and remembers the way she felt against him, legs wrapped tight around his neck and waist, how her hands touched him, the way she smelled and the sounds she made as she climbed. He remembers thinking it was the best sex he'd ever had as slips out of the bed, grabbing his pants off the floor and pulling them on as quietly as he can, not wanting to wake her up.

Ben looks at her before slipping into the bathroom, trying to remember her name. Lindsay? Leslie? That's right. Leslie. As he showers, more memories come back, flashes of her sitting on his knee while he won blackjack, the way her fingers played with the ends of his hair, how her laugh made him feel impossibly strong after he told her a bad joke. 

He remembers the moment he decided to buy her a ring with his winnings, and how after celebrating their engagement with ice cream and talk about taking risks, they walked over to the chapel, hands clasped together as if they were afraid they might lose each other. 

Ben expects to feel sick, but the nausea doesn't come. There's no nausea, no headache, as if he didn't drink at all. 

He distinctly remembers drinking several shots of vodka. 

When he comes out, she's awake, wearing his Letters to Cleo t- shirt and hugging her bare knees against her chest and looking around the room with frantic desperation. 

"Good morning."

Her eyes shoot to his. In the minute of silence that goes by, Ben worries that she doesn't remember him.

Slowly though, her hand lifts and she gives him a small wave. He sees the ring on her finger and feels his stomach turn. "Hi."

"So," Ben says, sticking his hands in his pants, unsure of what exactly he's supposed to say now. "Breakfast?" 

Leslie smiles and Ben remembers how she smiled at him the night before, and how his life felt full of a million possibilities."Yes!" 

Ben watches her as she climbs out of the bed and starts gathering her clothes. His shirt hangs on her, ending just beneath her ass, which he recalls holding the night before. 

She stops, hugging her clothes against her chest. "I'm sorry I just, I wish there was a manual for this." 

"Me too," Ben replies, laughing as he combs his fingers through his hair. 

They stand there, looking everywhere except at each other, the silence growing more tense by the second, as if they're both waiting for the other person to break it. 

Finally, Leslie says, "Well, I guess we start with breakfast and then go on from there, right?" 

Ben agrees, figuring it's a better plan than anything he could come up with. Right now his mind is stuck on how cute she looks in his shirt. 

He's never liked girls wearing his clothes before. 

Leslie slips into the bathroom and while she showers, Ben turns on the TV, hoping that one of the channels will have something about what to do when you elope with someone you don't really know. It's Vegas, there has to be some kind of guide. 

There's not. There is however, a recap of last night's Dodgers vs Phillies game so he gives up and watches that instead. 

Leslie comes out sometime during the fifth inning, when the Dodgers are up by one and the Phillies have two outs. She's wearing a the same black dress she had on the night before. The one that hugs her curves and dips low enough that he can see the love bites on her breasts. 

He looks away quickly. 

"So," she says, looking at the TV, "you're a baseball guy huh?"

"Well, I was shortstop on my JV team in Minnesota," he tells her as he walks over to zip the back of her dress. 

"So you're a Twins fan." 

"Cubs, actually." He finds himself captivated by the constellations of freckles on her shoulders. He remembers touching them with his lips, and the sounds she made when he did. 

"Oh god, that's adorable. My dad was a White Sox fan, but I don't know if I have a favorite team. I'm more a basketball girl myself."

"Yeah? Hoosiers right?" Ben asks, looking for his shoes when he sees Leslie sit down to put hers on. 

"That's right!" Leslie says, before her eyes widen and she hops with excitement. "Oh yes! You live in Indy!"

Ben nods, remembering their conversation about living in the same state. She declared it fate, hand clasped around his. "I think I invited you to a Pacers game." 

She smiles at him and his heart does a double take. "I don't suppose you know where my phone is?"

Ben looks under the sheets, pillows, and on the floor for it. Thinking it might have been kicked under the bed, he looks under there too. He sees nothing but carpet though. 

"Wow." 

He rises. "Yeah?"

"I was admiring your butt." 

Ben shakes his head, not quite sure what to say to that. "Um, thanks?"

"No problem, hubby," Leslie says as she continues looking for her phone. Ben though, finds his on the dresser, next to their marriage certificate. He looks at it, double checking to make sure it's official and not just some joke, but no it says issued by the state of Nevada and everything.

Shaking his head, Ben then checks his text messages, most are from his friend Chris who's housesitting for him, giving him updates on Darth Vader, Ben's lab mix, along with picture of Vader at the dog park. 

"I'll call it." 

"I'm afraid the battery’s dead," she says, sighing, "but yeah let's try it." 

She gives him the number and he dials. There's no sound at first, but then he hears the faint sounds of The Spice Girls coming from under the chair. Leslie rushes over to it, her dress coming up as she does. 

Figuring if Leslie stared at his butt, he could do the same, he quickly memorizes her shape. 

Again, he remembers holding her in his hands. 

"Got it!" she says, holding it up in victory just as Ben pushes end on his. Now, let's go eat." 

It's while they're walking across the street to her hotel that Ben notices Leslie's limp. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just these stupid shoes. Broken heel, remember?" 

"Right," Ben nods, remembering the moment they met. "Um, remind me why you didn't get different ones after?

She pauses, frowns and shakes her head. "I can't remember. Probably because I was distracted by you."

"I'm sorry," Ben says as the valet opens the door for them. 

"You should be," Leslie returns. "It's your hair. It's very distracting." 

"I'll remember that," Ben says. "Well if you want, I can wait in line while you change," Ben says as they walk through the casino floor to the buffet, noting how she's wincing as she walks. 

"Are you crazy? Waffles first, super uncomfortable shoes later," she says, "Or maybe-" 

"Go," Ben says, seeing the line to the buffet wrap around the corner. 

"Are you sure?" Leslie asks, though he can hear the relief in her voice.

"Positive," he says, and kisses her quickly on the lips. She stares at him for a second, but before he can apologize, she takes off for the elevators. 

"How long have you two been married?" The woman beside him asks. 

Ben looks at his watch. "Eight and a half hours." 

"Oh that's sweet," she says, "Eloping in Las Vegas. I wish I had done that," she says, gesturing with her head to her balding husband who's talking on the phone. "Have you been together long?"

"Not long," Ben tells her, doing the math in his head. "About twelve."

"Twelve years?"

"No, hours." 

It's worth it, just to see the look on her face. Eloping with a stranger has its perks, and shocking people is one of them. 

Leslie returns when he reaches the front wearing a t- shirt, jean shorts and a pair of pink chucks, her hair put in pigtails. "Hi."

Hi," Ben says, trying not to think about how pretty she is. She's unbelievably pretty. He's pretty sure his first words were, "God you're beautiful." It's as true in the day as it was at night. 

"So what did I miss?"

"Nothing," Ben says, "I mean, I think I freaked out the woman in front me when she asked how long we'd known each other, but other than that."

Leslie covers her mouth to hide her laughter. "Oh no. You didn't tell her the truth did you?"

Ben smirks and shrugs. He's not going to be married for much longer he might as well enjoy it. 

She just shrugs back. "Well, I guess there should be some perks to marrying a stranger. Freaking people out would be it."

"That's what I thought," Ben says, raising his hand for her to high five him. 

It makes him remember how after they said I do, they high fived before kissing. 

"Well I'm going for the waffles," Leslie says, not even bothering to sit down. Ben nods and watches her go, waits a minute for their waiter to stop by so he can order coffee for the both of them and heads to the pancake station. 

"You know I picked this hotel because they're supposed to have to best waffles in Vegas" she says as she's biting into hers. "And it's pretty good. Not as good as JJ's, but you take what you can get."

"JJ's huh?" 

"Yes. If you're ever near Pawnee you should try it." 

He takes a bite of blueberry pancake. "You know, we have pretty good diners in Indy too."

"Yeah, but not like JJ's." 

"Well, maybe I will come that way and see for myself," he says, drizzling a bit more syrup on his pancakes.

"You know," she says after a few moments of silence while they eat, "you can tell a lot about a person by what kind of breakfast food they like. Like my best friend Ann, her favorite is oatmeal with berries and while I think oatmeal's disgusting, it makes sense because she's a very stable person and a nurse and beautiful and sweet." 

"Right." Ben nods, ignoring the weird twist of jealousy he feels as she waxes poetic about her best friend. "So what do blueberry pancakes say about me?"

"Well you like sweet things, but you didn't put a lot of syrup on it."

"You didn't put any," Ben says. 

"Yeah, but I have whipped cream," Leslie replies, gesturing with her fork. "So you like sweet, but not too sweet. And you drink your coffee black-"

"Oh, that's because of the rule." 

"There's a rule?" Leslie asks, sounding amused and curious at once. 

"Yeah. If you're eating a sweet thing, you drink coffee black, but if you're eating something savory, then you can put in cream and sugar. Obviously you don't agree with this rule, since you just put six sugars into yours." 

Leslie just smiles and lifts her cup to her lips. "Yep."

"So," Ben says after a moment, "I guess we should figure out what we're going to do."

"Hold that thought," Leslie says pushing her empty plate away. "I want pancakes." 

She's gone before Ben can even sigh. 

She returns with a stack of chocolate chip cookies. "Okay. Let's do this."

Ben stares at her, wondering how she's functioning by eating all that sugar. But then he remembers watching her an ice cream brownie sundae last night and thinking the same thing. 

"Yeah."

"How much do you remember?" she asks. 

"Enough," Ben answers, drinking his coffee. The truth is he remembers everything, including the moment he asked her to marry her and her nearly breathless yes. 

"Me too. Is that all you're going to eat?" she asks. 

Ben sighs. He did just pay sixty dollars to get in. "Yeah, okay. I'll go get an omelet."

"Bring me back a crueller!" 

Again, Ben wonders how she's even alive. 

When he comes back, she's hanging up her phone. He sits down, putting her crueller in front of her. 

"Thank you!" She beams and he finds himself smiling back, even though he's pretty sure she's going to slip into a sugar coma any second now. "So I know it's rude to make phone calls in restaurants, but I just called my ex, he's a lawyer."

"Oh." 

"Yeah, so he says we can probably get it annulled without too much of a problem. We just have to do it here." 

Ben's stomach twists even tighter. He ignores it though, because the feeling makes no rational sense. He married a stranger. He should be running for the courthouse, filing out the necessary paperwork to make the marriage disappear. "Right. Well uh, I guess we'll just find a divorce attorney and-"

"Yeah." He thinks she sounds disappointed. "I'm sure there are plenty of lawyers here that that deal with annulments."

"Right." He puts his fork down; his omelet remains untouched. 

 

After they're done, they go up to her room where she gets out her laptop and starts looking for instruction on how to get an annulment in the city while Ben studies her. She's fascinating to watch, her mouth making interesting shapes that he wants to kiss as she looks through the various Las Vegas divorce websites. 

"These are so expensive." Leslie says, frowning, "But we can split the cost, right?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. I can get it though, if you need-"

"No, it's fine. I'll just take some money out of my scrapbooking and banner budgets." She makes a face and shakes her head. "Anyway, that shouldn't be a problem." 

Ben's phone beeps at that moment. He looks at it and laughs at the sight of Vader sleeping with his belly up on his couch. Recalling how excited Leslie was the night before when he showed her pictures of him, Ben turns the screen toward her. 

"Oh my god, he's so cute!" Leslie says. "What's his name again?"

"Darth Vader." 

Leslie's face brightens with recognition. "Oh right! I made fun of you for naming him something so nerdy."

"For the last time, Star Wars is not that nerdy. Just because you're the only person who hasn't seen it-"

Leslie exhales. "I just don't understand what the big deal is." 

"You don't know what the big deal is with Star Wars?" Ben asks, knowing they're just repeating their argument from last night. "It's Star Wars!" 

Leslie reaches up, placing her hand and on his face. "You're a weird one, Ben Wyatt."

"Says the woman with a budget for banners." 

"Says the man who came here for a board game conference." 

"Hey, I came in third place overall and I'm nationally ranked so." Ben smirks, wondering why she's not more impressed. 

Leslie just smiles and Ben tries not to want to kiss her. Instead he reaches for the remote. "Mind if I see what's on the History channel?" 

"Oh go ahead!" Leslie says so cheerfully his heart jumps again. "I love the History channel. Although now it's nothing but aliens."

"Ugh, I know," Ben says as he tries to find it, "but you gotta admit, the evidence is pretty compelling." 

She frowns at him. "You're joking."

Ben shrugs, trying not to laugh at her. "How else would you explain-Oh, hey, Planet Earth." He hits the select button. "Sorry, I just really love this series," he says, seeing Leslie stare at him. "Um-"

"How do you feel about Ken Burns?"

"Uh, just that he's the greatest documentary filmmaker of all time," Ben answers. 

Leslie falls back against the headboard. "Fuck." 

"Sorry?"

She gives him a smile, but it's weak. "No, that was the right answer." 

Ben understands Leslie's frustration all too well. He can't read her mind, but the longer he spends with her, the more he likes her. To the point where he'd rather stay in the room and watch TV with her then go get their marriage annulled. 

It's not the right feeling, at all. 

Still, when she puts the laptop aside and starts watching with him, he feels relieved. And an hour later, when she's curled up next to him, his arm around her shoulders, her fingers playing with the fabric of his shirt, he feels even better. 

He draws lines up and down her neck with his fingernail, taking in every inhalation of breath. 

"Ben?" 

"Yeah?" He figures she'll tell him to stop touching her. He should stop touching her. He just can't bring himself to move his hand.

"You should kiss me." 

Ben doesn't make her ask him twice. He just bends down and slides his lips slowly across hers. She holds his shirt, lips pliant under his. She pulls back, breathing heavily for a moment before her lips crash onto his again. This time the kiss is almost frantic, desperate as he lifts her shirt over her head and she unbuttons his. 

"We shouldn't do this," Leslie says, pulling at his belt. 

"No," Ben agrees, going to unclasp her bra. 

"Do that thing you did last night." 

Ben grins, rolling them over so he's on top of her. "You got it." 

 

After, when they're both completely satisfied and out of breath, she draws shapes into his chest. 

"You're very good at that."

"Thank you," he says, playing with the ends of her hair. "I hate to be the guy who brings up the elephant in the room, but this is going to make getting this annulled a lot harder." 

Leslie releases a frustrated breath and sits up, reaching for her bra. "Well, we could always lie." 

"You know those things are on the record right?" Ben asks, sitting up to so he can find his shirt. He hands Leslie her shirt and panties. 

"Yeah, but who's gonna know?" Leslie asks, slipping her shirt back on. 

"Also," Ben says, standing up to put his jeans back on, "you're a terrible liar."

"I am awesome at lying," Leslie says, standing up on the other side of the bed. 

"'This is my lover, Raul, he's a rich dignitary from Lichtenstein,'" Ben says, repeating her words verbatim. 

"Oh, you want to go there?" Leslie asks, "You really want to go there? Okay, Mr. 'Oh, haha, don't flatter me honey, it's you, Princess Anastasia who is the real star.' Really? Princess Anastasia?"

"I just watched the movie," Ben says, shrugging. 

"It is a great movie," Leslie concedes. "So, okay, what do we do?"

"We go eat lunch," Ben says, looking out window at the Paris hotel across the street. "How do you feel about French?" 

 

They eat croque monsieurs and eclairs while watching two mimes compete to see who can scare the most children. At one point, Ben looks over to watch Leslie, only to catch her staring back at him. He doesn't know what possesses him, but he leans in, only for her to meet him the rest of the way. 

"We really should-"

Ben nods. "Yeah. We should." 

He doesn't want to though. 

She sighs. "This isn't me, you know. I don't- I don't do this." 

"Marry strangers?"

"I'm not spontaneous," she says with a small shrug. "I make lists. I plan. I once made a pros and cons list about buying a new pair of running shoes! When I woke up this morning, I should have ran out the door and called my best friend for advice. I've only sent her three texts today and they're all about how cute you are." 

They had this exact conversation the night before, daring each other to be impulsive. He doesn't remind her of this though. Ben just finishes his eclair, licking the cream off his finger. "Thanks." 

Leslie just smiles as if to say you're welcome. 

"If it means anything, I don't usually do this either. I'm practical. I don't take risks."

Leslie laughs, bumping his shoulder with hers. "We're quite a pair, aren't we?"

"We really are," Ben agrees, standing up and giving her his hand. She takes it and he feels it again, that same spark he felt the night before when he offered her his hand to help her up when her heel broke. 

"We should-"

"Yeah," Ben agrees, their fingers laced together as they walk out. They should. 

They go back to his hotel room instead. 

 

"You know, I should probably stay in my room tonight," she says as she's getting dressed. "You know, so we can both get some distance? Maybe that's what we need. Distance." 

Ben has to agree with her, even though he really doesn't want to. She's right though. They're probably just under some kind of Las Vegas love spell. They just need a night apart to come to their senses. "Yeah, sure. And at the very least, you'll actually get your money’s worth for your hotel room."

"Oh, good point," Leslie says, pointing at him. "So yeah, I think I'll just go now and um, we can meet tomorrow morning and we can have breakfast and go to the lawyers."

Ben's stomach twists violently while she talks, his mind shouting at her not to let her go, but he has no choice. He has to. 

She's not really his. 

"Eight?" She asks and he can't tell her if her smile is hopeful or sad. 

"Eight," Ben repeats. "Your place."

"My place," she says, and then she's gone. 

Ben falls back onto his bed. 

 

For the rest of the night Ben spends his time playing Blackjack while cocktail waitresses give him complimentary gin and tonics. It feels too much like a repeat of the night before, only this time there aren't any cute blondes to catch his eye or for him to offer his hand to, so he takes what's left of his chips and dignity and goes to the nearest Italian restaurant and orders a calzone, eating it while a Frank Sinatra impersonator sings. Unfortunately hearing a man sing about being in love only makes him think about a certain blonde woman who's under his skin. 

He can't be in love. His parents met in similar circumstances and were divorced less than five years later, and can't even be in the same room together. Love, it takes time. It's something you build. You go on dates. You get to know them, you learn all their disgusting habits and faults and decide they're things you can live with. You don't just meet someone and get married that same night. 

Ben ignores the voice in his head that reminds him he was with his last girlfriend for a year and never felt so much as a pinch of what he feels for Leslie. 

He goes back to his room and showers, trying to sober up before he goes to bed so he's not hung over in the morning. 

While he's putting on his pants, the door knocks. For a second he just stares at it, knowing that it's not housekeeping at ten o'clock at night. 

He opens the door with his t shirt in his hand. For a minute they just stare at each other, his heart beating uncontrollably. He wants her. He's never wanted anyone as much as he wants her. 

"I missed you," she says and he steps forward, pushing her up against the wall in the hallway, kissing her for everything he's worth. She wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him back with equal fervor. 

He pushes his hands up her thighs, feeling nothing but smooth skin underneath her dress. 

He backs up from the wall, holding her as he walks backwards into the room, pushing it closed with one hand while she pulls down his pants. 

Deciding the bed is too far, Ben just fucks her against the door. 

 

It's one am and Ben can't sleep. He'd like to blame the noise coming from outside, but the truth is he can't sleep because he doesn't want to, not when there's a beautiful woman on top of him, draped over his body like some kind of blonde, blue eyed octopus who mumbles about parks and makes campaign speeches in her sleep. 

He hears her intake of breath and knows she's awake.

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?" 

She turns her head, her eyes are still half closed, nose scrunched up. "Do not." 

"Do too. It's cute though," he says, and she mumbles again and puts her head back down on his chest. He occupies his mind by writing the formula for his favorite math equations on her back.

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" she asks, her breath tickling his skin. 

With you, Ben thinks. "I'm not sure. I'd like to run someday but I'm not sure if I'll be ready by then." 

"I bet you will be," Leslie says, sounding more sure then he probably deserves. 

"What about you, Leslie Knope? You gonna run in five years?"

"Maybe," she says, her voice drifting slightly. "I have so many things I want to achieve. I want to run the parks department, I want to be elected, I want a family-"

"You want a family?" Ben asks, unable to stop himself. "Me too." 

She looks at him then, her eyes sparkling, lips curled up in the softest of smiles. She doesn't say anything, just moves so her face is above his and her lips are caressing his and his heart is beating so fast he swears she can hear it. 

Then she moves off him and he turns, wrapping his arms around her so she can drape her legs across his and bury her face in the crook of his neck. 

"Goodnight," he says. She's already asleep. 

In the morning Ben wakes up to see Leslie standing outside on the balcony talking on the phone. He reaches for his own phone, noticing various sheets of hotel note paper in the trash can. Curious, Ben pulls one out to look at it, seeing a pros and cons list. A quick search through the rest reveals the same thing. They're all pros and cons lists, all about him. 

They all say the same thing. 

Ben drops them back into the trashcan and grabs his phone. Everything on her list is right. It doesn't matter how attractive they find each other or how much they have in common or how they might actually feel. It's too soon. 

So he grabs his phone and looks at his messages. They're all from Chris, with updates and pictures of Vader. He thinks about calling him for his advice, but Leslie comes in, holding her phone. "Ann wants to talk to you." 

"Oh, okay," Ben says, taking it. "Um, hello."

"Are you a grifter?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Are you a grifter?" Ann asks again. " A con man. A swindler. Do you marry women and then steal all their money and leave them complete destitute? Are you a serial killer?" 

"I can promise you I'm none of those things." 

"You sure? Because I swear to God if I hear they find Leslie's body in the desert I will hunt you down and you'll wish I hadn't." 

Ben knows he shouldn't laugh at the threat, but the thought of hurting Leslie is just so ridiculous that he can't help but chuckle. Naturally, she yells at him for that too. 

"I'm serious."

"I believe you," Ben says, looking up at Leslie, who's looking back at him, tapping her foot in nervous anticipation. "I swear, I won't hurt her."

"Good. She likes you," Ann says, quiet and sincere. "She's trying to fight it and I don't know what you're thinking, but I can tell you like her too." 

"Um, yeah." Ben doesn't know what to say to that. He's not sure if he understands Ann's meaning. Is she saying they should stay married? That they should be quicker about the annulment? He doesn't know. And he can't ask. 

"Yeah, give me back to Leslie." 

Ben wordlessly gives the phone back to Leslie. She takes it and goes back outside. 

 

Eventually they go to breakfast, this time to a restaurant in his hotel. She orders the waffles, he orders eggs and toast. They eat in silence, only speaking when their waiter asks if they need anything else.

"Just more coffee," Ben says while Leslie nods in agreement. The waiter fills their cups, sets the ticket down and leaves. 

"I'll get it," she says, taking her credit card out of her purse. 

Ben doesn't argue with her. Instead he drinks his coffee, waits for the feeling in his stomach to go away. He wishes he could blame it on the food, but he can't. The omelet was fine. 

It's the thought of losing her. 

"This is stupid right?" 

Ben looks up, trying not to feel too hopeful. "What?"

"I mean, just because we're getting this annulled, it doesn't mean...we'll still see each other right? 

"Oh, yeah," Ben says, as if to convince himself that it's true. "I can take you to that Pacers game."

"Yeah!" She says, sounding happy at the thought but her eyes tell a completely different story. "That'll be great. And I can introduce you to Pawnee and JJ's." 

"Right, so we're good." 

"Yes. It's not an ending it's just a very weird beginning." 

Ben lifts his cup. "To weird beginnings." 

She clinks her cup against his, carefully so none of the liquid spills out. "To weird beginnings." 

 

He's following her to the entrance to get a cab when she stops in the middle of the hotel lobby, spins around and grabs his shirt, pulling him down. For a minute he loses himself in her, not caring that anyone else is there or looking at them. All he cares about his her and how soft her lips are and how she tastes like whipped cream and coffee and how crazy in love he is with her. 

"What was that for?" he asks when the kiss ends. 

"I didn't want the last time I kissed you to be the last time I kissed you," Leslie says, her voice shaking. 

Ben takes her hand and runs his thumb across her ring. "This is really nice."

"Yes, it is," she says, wiping her eyes with her other hand. "I hope they'll let you return it. But there are pawn shops too so if they don't you can always-"

"Do you remember what you said before I bought it?"

She pauses, exhales and closes her eyes for just a second before opening them again, this time brighter than ever."Oh, um, I think I said something about how I wish I could be impulsive, and you said you did too, and then I dared you to do something really impulsive, something you would never actually do, and then you proposed." 

"And we kept talking about all the signs. It was a sign that we were from Indiana, and it was a sign that your heel broke in front of me and it was a sign that we just happened to be in front of a wedding chapel." 

"Yeah so?" Leslie shakes her head, clearly not following. 

"So what if-"

"Excuse me," someone says. Ben apologizes and they step to the side, behind the sofa. 

"What if they were all signs?" Ben continues. He's not completely sure of what he's saying either, but he knows it sounds right. Being married to Leslie sounds -- feels -- right. 

"Ben-"

He takes her in, her bright eyes, her tear streaked face, her expression that's full of both fear and hope, as if she's wanting him to convince her that they should just take a running leap of faith together. It fills him with confidence that he didn't even know he had. 

"Look, just, just hear me out, okay?" 

She nods, still wiping at her eyes. "Okay." 

"What if, instead of getting an annulment, we just stay married?" Ben waits for his inner voice, the rational one who always told him not to take risks to tell him he was nuts. But it's silent.

And while the knot in his stomach is still there, it's for a different reason. It's not there at the thought of being married to someone he just met, or at all. It's because of the opposite. 

"Stay married?" Leslie repeats, shaking her head is if he just suggested they go sky diving. 

"Stay married," Ben says. "No annulments, no divorce, just you and me and Vader." 

Leslie laughs, not even bothering to wipe the tears off her face. "I'm just, I don't know. We have a lot in common, especially our political views which are very important to me, although I think you might be more fiscally conservative than I am, but that's not a deal breaker." 

"Right."

She combs her fingers through her hair. "But where would we live? Because I don't know if you know this, but Pawnee-"

"Is your home and you never want to live anywhere else except there unless you're living in the White House," Ben finishes for her. "I can move." 

She takes a deep breath. "I don't sleep."

"I can make you sleep." 

He watches the blush color her cheeks. "I'm a hoarder. Ask Ann. Oh wait, that's a good idea!" 

"What-" He starts to ask what she means but she's already pulling out her phone and calling Ann. 

"Ann, it's Leslie Knope, Ben and I are thinking of staying married and I need your advice. Help us Ann, you are our only hope." 

"I knew it!" Ben shouts, garnering the attention of everyone in the lobby. "I knew you were lying when you said you hadn't seen Star Wars!" 

Leslie just stares at him and says to Ann, "Tell me what to do." 

Ben waits, he can't hear what Ann is saying but Leslie's responses are short and one word, "Okay," "Yeah," "Right." "I know but-" and so on until she finally gives him the phone and says. "She wants to talk to you again." 

"Hey," Ben says, "so exactly how bad is this hoarding problem?"

"Bad. You're going to have a tough time. She's a handful." 

With his free hand, Ben brings Leslie in closer. She comes, thumbing his shirt buttons. "That's okay, I've got big hands." 

"Did you just make a sex joke," Ann asks and before Ben can answer, she says, "Gross. But look, I gotta go I have to start my shift. Tell Leslie I said to follow her heart." 

Ben hangs up and repeats Ann's message. Leslie nods, exhales, her breath warm against his neck. 

"I really thought she would tell me to run to the lawyer." 

"Well," Ben says, drawing lines up and down her back, "we can go and get this annulled and then go back to Indiana and start over again and date and that's fine. If it's what you want to do, it's fine. I'll do it. But I know that at this moment, I have never felt anything close to what I feel for you." 

She inhales, rests her head against his chest. "I haven't felt like this before either. And I was once madly in love with a Civil War reenactor." 

"Which side?

"The North."

"Ah." 

Leslie looks up at the ceiling, as if waiting for divine inspiration. "I...you can't rush into these things."

"You're right." Ben agrees. He knows this. But he also knows that whether it's a year from now or they just decide to stay married, he's going to spend the rest of his life with her. He knows it like he knows two plus two is four. 

"Also, I'm a workaholic," Leslie says. "I woke up last night while you were sleeping and used your laptop to work. I also read that fanfic you wrote and made some suggestions." 

Ben chuckles and moves her hair out of her eyes. "Okay." 

"I need to think about this. I need-"

Ben laces his fingers with hers. "I got you," he says, then he leads her back to the restaurant for more waffles. 

This time, he orders some too. 

 

After second breakfast, Ben and Leslie go back to his room in some kind of wordless agreement, falling into each other's embrace as soon as the door closes. He buries himself in her, fucks her as if it might be the last time he ever gets to. The more he kisses her though, the more he knows that she's the only person he will ever want to kiss again. 

"You know, I'm a Gryffindor," she says, sounding as sleepy as he feels. He could sleep the rest of the day away. 

"I know," he responds, twirling her hair around his finger.

"We're known for our bravery. It's kind of our thing." 

"I'm aware." 

She turns rests her chin on his chest. He opens his eyes and meets hers, his heart beating hard against his chest, stomach full of butterflies. 

"What happens though if you decide I'm too much or get tired of my face?"

"Anyone who thinks you're too much doesn't deserve you," he says, hand drifting down her back to feel her ass. "Also, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met-"

"I am?" 

"Mmhmm." 

She takes another deep breath and sits up. He sits up too, following the lines of her body with his lips. After a second, Ben feels her hands card through his hair, hears her exhale. 

"Ben?" 

"Yeah, babe?" 

"Do you want to go to Lake Mead tomorrow?" 

Ben kisses her chest, right where her heart is and then comes up to kiss her lips, knowing now that this time isn't going to be the last time he gets to kiss her. 

"I'd love to."


End file.
